Cageside Community Star Ratings results for TLC 2016

Last week the community at Cageside Seats was asked to assign star ratings for all 7 matches that took place at TLC 2016.

The votes have all been tabulated, and for every match I will include these 7 summary statistics:

• Votes: Total number of votes cast for a given match.
• Q1: First quartile, which is the value that roughly 25% of the votes fall below.
• Q2: Second quartile (aka median), which is the value that roughly 50% of the votes fall below.
• Q3: Third quartile, which is the value that roughly 75% of the votes fall below.
• AVG: The weighted average of every vote.
• Meltzer: Dave Meltzer’s star rating for a given match.
• Cain: One of the perks of writing this column is that I get to list my own personal star rating for the match right next to Meltzer’s.

The following sortable table includes all the results of the Cageside Community Star Ratings for TLC 2016.

Here is a graphical summary of some of the numbers from the table. For any given match, the bottom of the blue rectangle is Q1 and the top of the blue rectangle is Q3. In most cases the blue rectangle includes the values where the middle 50% of the votes were cast for that match. The thin line above the blue rectangle shows where the highest 25% of the votes were cast, and the thin blue line below the rectangle shows where the lowest 25% of the votes were cast. The matches are displayed left to right, sorted by AVG in descending order:

The main event match between Styles and Ambrose scored an AVG of 4.38 stars, with 90.2% of the votes coming in at 4 stars or greater. Ziggler’s match (76.3%) was the only other one that surpassed 50% in this metric, with Corbin’s match just falling short at 47.9%.

Only 6.9% of the votes for Nikki’s match came in at 4 stars or more, and this was the worst result here out of any of the 7 matches.

Meltzer’s star rating came within 0.25 stars of the community AVG on 3 of the 7 matches: Nikki versus Carmella (0.20), Styles versus Ambrose (0.12), and Miz versus Ziggler (0.00).

On the other hand, there was a wide gap of 1.80 stars between Meltzer’s star rating for Becky’s match compared to the community AVG. The next biggest gap occurred for Orton’s match, with Meltzer’s star rating disagreeing with the community by 1.33 stars. The difference with Corbin’s match was 0.97 stars. In all three of these cases, the community enjoyed these matches more than Meltzer.

The vote distribution for Corbin’s match had the lowest percentage of 5-star ratings out of all 7 matches. Furthermore, only 2.45% of the votes for his match came in at 4.75 stars or higher. The next lowest percentage on that metric was for Nikki’s match, which had 4.29% of its votes for 4.75 stars or more. This is one of those quirky things that stands out due to the fact that Corbin’s match fared pretty well based on AVG.

My guess is that shorter matches are probably harder to agree on a star rating for than longer matches, and the graph above appears to support that to some extent, with the two shortest matches of the night (Nikki, Orton) having the longest blue rectangles (which means the biggest gap between Q1 and Q3).

Only 72 votes were cast for the 10-man tag team match from the pre-show, and 5 of those votes were for a 5-star rating. The next lowest voter turnout was for Ziggler’s match, which had 245 total votes.

The two matches that garnered the most voting interest were Styles versus Ambrose and Lynch versus Bliss, with both matches eclipsing 500 votes.

Every single match received at least one 0-star rating and at least one 5-star rating.

Finally, here are some thoughts on these matches from various Cagesiders:

AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose

Comment from CapitalTTruth:

I went with 4. It was a solid TLC match and didn’t have too many of those overly contrived spots. They did well to integrate the carnage. The springboard 450 through the table was worth a 1/4 star on its own, so I could consider going a notch higher, but the interference along with a kind of clunky homestretch in general keep it from being much higher than this. It was a really good and really fun TLC match and it didn’t feel like it was dragging. It just wasn’t elite to me.

The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler

Comment from anthony.dewayne.mack:

Those two certainly made the most of the stipulation of the match, wrapping in sound ring psychology and character-building. They did the traditional ladder spots but they added more meaning to them. With the spots in which both opponents had targeted each other’s legs in vicious attacks, it suddenly made sense that they were climbing the ladders at a snail’s pace. The whole time the match was happening, I found myself mind-booking how Maryse would factor into the finish, only to be pleasantly surprised that she wasn’t.

Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin

Comment from Magog2076:

They told a great story in ring, Kalisto is one of the better "David vs Goliath" guys out there. Corbin’s offense looked stiff and hard hitting. That top rope chair shot looked brutal in real speed, like he just took his head off! I usually hate the convoluted "bed of chairs" spot, but it played well here with Kalisto using the time to recover. The mix of styles mixed really well, and with the chair stip limiting a lot, they did great!

Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss

Comment from Jomosensual:

Both did the best they could with a stipulation that usually doesn’t produce much for good matches. Loved the DDT on the back of the table and Becky’s Dis-Arm-Her in the table leg while working the hand and fingers was sick. The finish was also really well done. Not much else they could have done with what they were given.

Slater & Rhyno vs. Orton & Wyatt

Comment from jackthehack:

It was a glorified squash and pretty much finished off Heath Slater and Rhyno as a tag team. Aside from the ‘Burn in my light’ tease and the slick RKO, the match had very little to talk about.

Nikki Bella vs Carmella

Comment from phlash74:

In my opinion, it wasn’t as terrible as a lot of people seem to think it was, but it definitely didn’t live up to the build. I think they were hamstrung by the need to be extra cautious with Nikki’s neck and they didn’t want to actually use chairs or tables as mentioned above because of the other gimmick matches on the card. I thought Carmella did pretty well actually (loved the "you can’t see me" taunt), though the post match reveal of Nattie as Nikki’s attacker at Survivor Series was somewhat clunky.

Those are the results for the Cageside Community Star Ratings for TLC 2016. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Which number stands out to you the most?